Department of Pathology and Center for Vascular Biology Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Mol Biol Cell. 2010 Feb 1;21(3):377-9. doi: 10.1091/mbc.e09-07-0591.
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is best known as a cytokine essential for embryonic vasculogenesis and for the angiogenesis associated with various pathologies including cancer. However, VEGF also serves other functions that are less widely recognized. An early study (Berse et al., 1992) revealed widespread expression of VEGF transcripts in adult tissues devoid of ongoing neovascularization, thereby predicting additional VEGF functions distinct from angiogenesis. More recent studies have confirmed that VEGF does indeed serve multiple additional functions, including normal maintenance of endothelial and neural cell compartments. These findings have important implications for the use of VEGF antagonists and VEGF receptor antagonists in patients for which inhibition of pathological angiogenesis is the therapeutic goal.
血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）是一种细胞因子，对于胚胎血管生成和各种病理过程中的血管生成至关重要，包括癌症。然而，VEGF 还具有其他不那么广为人知的功能。一项早期研究（Berse 等人，1992 年）表明，VEGF 转录本在没有持续新生血管形成的成年组织中广泛表达，从而预测了除血管生成以外的其他 VEGF 功能。最近的研究证实，VEGF 确实具有多种其他功能，包括对内皮细胞和神经细胞区室的正常维持。这些发现对于 VEGF 拮抗剂和 VEGF 受体拮抗剂在抑制病理性血管生成是治疗目标的患者中的应用具有重要意义。
